Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
A Lotus for a Temple
Built in 1986, an architectural marvel, this iconic shrine in Delhi attracts millions of tourists every year…
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Articles
Is God judge or accountant?
We live in a web of debts. Debt leads to rebirth. No debt leads to liberation…
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Articles
Explanation from mythology: Why people voted for Modi, Brexit and Trump — and against Arab Spring
Modern society works on the philosophy of equality. These verdicts are a vote for diversity…
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Articles
What Alexander the Great learnt from a Hindu ascetic
For long have Europeans retold Indic mythologies. It is time for Indians to reverse the gaze…
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Articles
10 best mythological tales from around the world
Equality is not a rational concept, it is a subjective truth, a belief that comes to us from Abrahamic mythology. Likewise the idea of justice comes from Greek mythology…
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Books
Olympus: An Indian Retelling of the Greek Myths
In this book, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik turns his attention to ancient Greek tales and explores a new world of stories. Long have Europeans and Americans retold Indic mythologies. It is time for Indians to reverse the gaze…
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Articles
Transgenders versus homosexuals
In Greek mythology, there are many stories of homosexual love: where men love men, and women love women. Apollo falls in love with Hyacinthus, while his sister Artemis drives Callisto away when she lets a man make her pregnant…
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Articles
Tale of two buildings
Outrage over demolition has nothing to do with rationality. It has to do with ‘meaning’…
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Articles
The hermit’s smile: How celibacy, non-violence and purity work to establish patriarchy in India
Of these, purity is the most lethal as it is here where we find the seed of the inhuman practice of untouchability…
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Articles
Olympics Began As Tribute To The Departed
There are a number of possible explanations for the practice of funeral games…
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Articles
Glamour of vengeful gods
Faith now manifests not as patience, but as impatience, even intolerance…
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Articles
How Indian sages viewed violence (and why western mythology has such different ideas about it)
In Greek myth, violence is part of a movement from chaos to order. But Indian myth lays out that as long as violence exists, it will beget violence…
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Articles
The impact of Abrahamic mythology
The tale of the Promised Land mirrors the tale of Eden: returning home to perfection…
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Articles
Mythology of equality
Nature has no favourites and every plant and every animal has to fend for itself to survive…
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Articles
Are Indian courts and activists denying the gods their gender and sexuality?
This de-sexing of gods and goddesses makes it difficult to explain the exclusion of women from the presence of celibate gods…
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Articles
The everlasting flame
The agiary is off limits to non-Parsis, but the basis of the exclusion may be common to the Vedas and the Avesta…